Orlando Woolridge Dead At 52
Former Chicago Bulls star Orlando Woolridge has died at age 52. Officials in Louisiana announced the former NBA players death on Friday.
Before playing with the Chicago Bulls Woolridge was a star player for Notre Dame, helping the team reach the final four as a freshmen in 1978. Three years later as a senior Woolridge would hit a last-second jumper that ended the championship hopes of No. 1 Virginia who had went on a 28-game winning streak.
According to Shreveport’s Desoto Parish Chief Deputy Coroner Billy Locke, Woolridge was under hospice care for a chronic heart condition and had been staying at his parents home in Mansfield, Louisiana when he passed away.
During his career Woolridge spent 13-years in the NBA after the Chicago Bulls drafted him sixth overall in 1981. Woolridge played for five seasons with the Bulls, averaging 22.9 points per game in 1984-1985, the very same year a then little known player by the name of Michael Jordan joined the team.
After the 1985-1986 season Woolridge signed on with the New Jersey Nets but was suspending in 1987 after violating the league’s substance-abuse police. Eventually Woolridge would go on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Orlando Woolridge ended his career with an average of 16 points per game and 4.3 rebounds.
After a short stint playing overseeing Woolridge coached the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and most recently he coached Arizona in the ABA.
In February 2012 Woolridge was arrested after he was caught stealing aluminum tubing from a drill site in Desoto Parish. Woolridge was attempting to sell the material for scrap.
